Propeller.



'0. P. SMITH.

PROPELLER.

APPLICATION FILED rmms 1909.

949,743. I Patented Nov. 23,1909.

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OZRO P. SMITH, OF SOUTH FRAMINGI-IAM, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TOHIMSELF, AND WALTER FRANCIS BLAKE, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

PROPELLER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 23, 1909.

Application filed February 18, 1909. Serial No. 478,749.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, 0230 I. SMITH, a citizen of the United States,residing at South Framingham, in the county of Middlesex and State ofMassachusetts, have invented a new and useful Propeller, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to propellers, and is an improvement over theinvention claimed in my previous patent No. 839,897, granted January 1,1907.

The principal objects of the invention are to provide a propellerpreferably of the general character referred to in said patent withmeans whereby the feathering of the blades and their reciprocatingmotion can be controlled while the propeller is inoperation so as tovary the depression by the propeller of the stern of the boat; toprovide eflicient means whereby the boat, air ship, or the like can bestopped at will, or reversed, by manipulation of the propeller withoutstopping or reversing the engine or causing it to race; to provideadditional support for the blades of the propeller at a distance fromthe hub; to provide improvements in the details of the mechanism of thepropeller; to provide a construct-ion which shall be useful in aerialpropulsion as well as in marine; and generally to improve, strengthen,and simplify the construction of a propeller such as that shown in myabove mentioned patent.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

Reference is to be hadto the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1is a side elevation of a launch showing one form of the inventionapplied thereto; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the sameshowing the propeller blades in elevation; Fig. 3 is an end view of thesame; Fig. 4: is a side elevation of the hub of the propeller on anenlarged scale with the outer casing removed; Fig. 5 is a similar viewof a cam for controlling the operation of the blades; and Fig. 6 is asectional view taken vertically and centrally through the propellershaft.

In my prior patent was shown a construction in which a number ofpropeller blades were employed revolving about an axis transverse to thelength of the vessel, said blades being alternately moved away from anddrawn back toward the axis of the shaft. The blades were moved out andremained extending during the operative part of their stroke and weredrawn in toward the shaft during their return or idle part, whichproduced a self-cleaning action to prevent the picking up of weeds andother matter. The propeller was shown as comprising. four bladesalternately moved from and drawn 7 vplanes parallel with the shaft. Themeans illustrated in my prior patent for accomplishing this result was astationary grooved cam which operated rollers connected with the bladesto move them in and out and screw-threads or spiral guideways on thearms or shanks of the blades working in nuts to cause the proper turningof the blades. In order to produce a balanced effect these screw-threadsor spiral guideways were shown as of right and left-hand pitchalternately so that part of the blades would be turned or feathered inone direction while the remainder were turned or feathered in theopposite direction. In operation the blades were successively thrown outaway from their shaft during their operative stroke and drawn in towardthe shaft while on their return or idle stroke, and the spiralguide-ways or screw-threads of each of the blade arms or shanks turnedor feathered the blades as they were moved in or out so that the bladeswould stand at right angles to the shaft while on their idle or returnstroke, and would present their broad faces to the water or air duringtheir operative stroke, one blade being turned or feathered as it wasmoved out in the direction traveled by the hands of a watch while thenext succeeding blade was turned or feathered in the opposite direction.

In the present invention I prefer to make use of all the above mentionedprinciples of my prior patent. It will be readily understood however,that by the use of a stationary cam such as that described in saidpatent there is a tendency for the propeller to depress the stern of thevessel and that that tendency increases as the speed increases.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide simple andeifective means within the control of the operator whereby the cam maybe adjusted so as to compensate for that action.

Referring to the drawings it will be seen that the invention is shown asapplied to a launch 10. Extending outwardly at the rear is a main powershaft 11 for driving the propeller. This shaft is shown as provided witha gear 12 meshing with a gear 13 which is connected with a rotary hub 14of the propeller. The gearing above described is shown as contained in acasing 15 supported by brackets 16 extending down from the bottom of thevessel and other brackets or braces 17 may be employed for furtherstrengthening the construction. The hub let is shown as provided with aplurality of sets of radial guides 26 along each of which moves a block21. Each of these blocks is provided with a roller 22 and to each ofthem is swiveled a screw threaded or spirally grooved arm or shank 23.The connection of the arms with the blocks may be of any desired kind,as for example, that shown in my above mentioned patent. Secured to thecircumference of the hub 14 are a series of removable plates 24, eachhaving a screw thread or guide therein fitting the arms or shanks 23 andconstituting a nut therefor for turning the latter as they move in andout. Secured on each of the arms or shanks 23 is a propeller blade 25.These arms or shanks and propeller blades have a longitudinal passagetherethrough so that they can slide on the radial rods 26 which arefixed at their inner ends to the inner part of the hub let and are fixedat their outer ends by nuts or the like to a circular rim 27. This rimis additionally secured in position by means of tie-rods 28 connectedwith the hub. The blocks 21 are guided by the rods 26 and by additionalradlal guide rods 29.

In order to provide for operating the propeller blades, the followingmechanism is shown. Outside the rotary hub 1% is a cam 31 having agroove for receiving the rollers 22. This cam is similar to the camshown in my prior patent above mentioned, but instead of being mountedin stationary position is made movable, and the following mechanism isshown for operating it. The cam is shown as fixed on a sleeve 30 whichturns on a stationary rod 32 passing through the hub l-it which hasroller bearings 33 between it and the rod. This rod also extends throughthe gear 13 which is hollow, and it is provided with an end resting in abearing on the bracket 16 so that it is firmly supported on that end. Atthe other end the rod is fixed in a hollow casing 36 that ex-' tendsdown from the bottom of the launch. In this casing is mounted a wormwheel 35 fixed on the sleeve 30 and meshing with a Worm 37 which isfixed on a vertical shaft 38 which has a wheel 39 at the top for operating it either directly or by means of a chain or other flexibleconnection 4L0.

The operation of the device will be readily understood in view of theabove explanation of my prior patent. If the cam were fixed in the sameposition in which it is shown in the above mentioned patent, the

operation of the blades would be the same as therein described, and itis intended to operate the wheel 39 to bring the cam into substantiallythat position before the propeller is started. After it gets up speedthe wheel can be turned so as to shift the cam and reduce the depressingaction at the stern of the vessel, and at any time the stern can beraised or lowered by this means. In addition to these advantages theblades of the propeller can be so changed by operating the wheel 39 thatthe boat or air ship will be stopped, slowed down, or reversed withoutchanging the speed of the engines. This is an important advantagebecause those who have attempted to do this have been able to do it onlyby such a construction that the engines would race under theseconditions.

The rim 27 provides a firm support for the propeller blades and protectsthem against striking floating objects and assists to keep them clear ofweeds and the like, but it will be understood that the clearing actionabove described is retained in this construction. At the same time theparts are comparatively light and simple in construction, and are ofsuch a nature that they readily can be removed and repaired and yet areprotected from the entrance of water during the operation of the device.It will be seen also that the invention is applicable to aerialpropulsion as well as to marine navigation.

IVhile I have illustrated and described a preferred form of theinvention, I am aware that many modifications can be made therein by anyperson skilled in the art without departing from the scope thereof, asexpressed in the claims. Therefore I do not wish to be limited to allthe details of construction shown and described, but

What I do claim is 1. In a propeller the combination of a rotary hub, aradial blade thereon, means for moving said blade radially as the hubrotates, and means for varying the point at which said radial motiontakes place during the revolution of the hub.

2. A propelling apparatus comprising a rotatable wheel provided withmovably mounted blades, means for moving said blades radially, means forswinging said blades on radial axes, and means for varying the angularposition at which the blades commence their swinging operation.

3. In a propelling apparatus, the combination of a rotatable wheelprovided with movably mounted blades, means for moving said bladesoutwardly and inwardly, means for swinging said blades on axestransverse to the axis of rotation of the wheel, and means for varyingthe point at which the swinging operation takes place.

4:. In a propeller, the combination of a rotary hub, a blade extendingtherefrom, means for turning or feathering the blade on a radial axis asthe hub rotates, and means for varying the point at which saidfeathering motion takes place during the rotation of the hub.

5. In a propeller, the combination of a rotary hub, a blade extendingradially therefrom, a cam for turning the blade on a radial axis as thehub rotates, and means for shifting the position of the camindependently of the rotation of the hub.

6. In a propelling apparatus, the combination of a hub, radially movableblade-carrying arms or shanks mounted on the hub, a cam for ,alternatelyextending and retracting the arms, and means for turning said cam tovary the point at which the motion of the blade carrying arms takesplace.

7 In a propelling apparatus, the combination of a hub, radially movableblade-carrying arms or shanks mounted on the hub, a cam for alternatelyextending and retracting the arms, means for turning said cam andspirals or screw threads for feathering or turning the arms.

8. In a propelling apparatus, the combination of a hub, blade carryingarms radially movable on the hub, a cam for alternately extending andretracting said arms, manually controlled means for turning said cam tovary the point at which the movement of the arms takes place, and meansfor feathering or turning the arms during their radial motion.

9. In a propelling apparatus, the combination of blades adapted to turncompletely around an axis transverse to the direction of motion of thedevice to be propelled, means for feathering or turning the blades sothat each blade will be parallel tosaid axis and transverse to thecenter line of the device to be propelled during the operative part ofthe stroke and in a plane at right angles to said axis and parallel withsaid center line during the idle or return part of its stroke and forsuccessively throwing each blade out from the axis, increasing itsdistance therefrom during the operative part of its stroke, andsuccessively drawing in said blade, decreasing its distance from theaxis during the idle or return part of its stroke, and manuallycontrolled means whereby said feathering or turning operation can bevaried to come at different parts of the revolution.

10. In a propelling device, the combination of a rotatable hub, meansfor rotating the hub, blades movably mounted on the hub to rotatetherewith, a cam mounted on the same axis as the hub and movableindependently thereof and having means for controlling the motion ofsaid blades independently of the hub, a sleeve on which said cam ismounted, a worm-wheel on the sleeve, a worm for operating saidworm-wheel, and means whereby said worm can be turned manually to adjustthe position of said cam.

11. A propeller comprising a hub consisting of a circular disk having aplurality of removable segments constituting a part of the disk, each ofsaid segments having a screw-thread or spiral groove therein so as toconstitute a nut, means for detachably connecting said segments to thebody of the hub, guides extending through said segments into the hub andlocated substantially radially, blocks movable radially on said guides,ropeller blade guides fitting said nuts an connected with said blocks,and means for moving said blocks out and in as the hub rotates.

12. In a propeller, the combination of a disk-shaped hub, a plurality ofradial rods extending outwardly from the hub, a propeller blade having apassage therethrough located on each rod and rotatable thereon, meansfor simultaneously moving said propeller blades along their rods andturning them thereon as the hub rotates, and a circullar rim connectingthe outer ends of said ro s.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto setmy hand, in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

OZRO P. SMITH.

Witnesses ALBERT E. FAY, C. FORREST WESSON.

